SQL2005 and Windows Installer Clashes
February 20th, 2006 // 5:41 pm @ Amar
I recently came across a problem while installing SQL Server 2005 with Windows Installer 3.1. I tried with Windows Installer 3.1 and v2 of 3.1. But it always kept failing. I resolved the problem by uninstalling Windows Installer 3.1 ( it will give a protest message that almost all the major services on my machine will fail, but just ignore it ). After uninstalling 3.1, I downloaded Windows Installer 3.0 and installed it. Rebooted my machine, and tried to install SQL Server 2005, and it succeeded !!!
There have been many reported problems with Windows Installer 3.1 failing silently in some cases. I for one, will be staying away from 3.1 till a proper next version is rolled out 
Category : SQL Server